The Mythic Symbolism the Hobbit (Essay Sample)

The Mythic Symbolism the Hobbit (Tolkien)
Student Name
Institution
Myths are discussed by many but as false stories. Many think that myths only exist in the past, especially in the Greco-Roman world and do not have any influence on the modern world. However, myths are present in the contemporary world and affect the modern man. In the modern world, mythic images consistently create a connection for people. The ancient mythological symbols modern in literature, art in astronomy, and a host of other disciplines move modern man. The modern mythologies, for instance, the American mythology, create and preserve values in the society. The American legends, tales, and stories define people’s self-perceptions and desires. People have misappropriated the word myth and equate it to false. However, the truths, which underlie the people's myths are far more accurate than the events that history. This essay will discuss myths based on The Hobbit (Tolkien) and discuss their psychological implications, historical contexts, and world views.
The Hobbit is a 1936 children’s story by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. It narrates about a small person who plays a role in a great adventure (Tolkien, 2001). The imagery and the playful tone make the novel suitable for both adults and children. The success of The Hobbit also gave Tolkien a vast public that was anxious to learn more about the methodically established world that he had created his created mythology and language, only a small part of which was through in The Hobbit. The novel is an embodiment of modern use of myths. The character and plot of The Hobbit combine the ancient heroic Scandinavian epics and Anglo-Saxon. In many ways, the charm and humor of the novel lie in relocating a simple, countryside Englishman of the 1930s into a heroic feudal setting. Tolkien accredited that his hero, Bilbo Baggins, was decorative on the rural Englishmen of his own time (Casey, 1977).
The psychological implication of myths may be categorized as a representation and a necessary component of the human psyche. As a representation, the most shared belief about the psychological significance of myth is that mythologies embody different elements of human’s souls or minds (White, 1971). Not only modern writers, but also the ancient writers engage in this interpretation. Greek Aphrodite and Roman goddess Venus, for instance, is possibly the best-known symbol that symbolizes love, especially in its erotic and sometimes romantic aspects (Jewell, 2002). Myth as an essential constituent of the human psyche it a theory believes that myth is a significant part of the human psyche. Human being needs myth in their lives to live an ordinary functional existence. For instance, the dissimilarities among Tolkien’s fictional races are a critical focus of the novel, predominantly in its second half. Dwarves, elves, goblins, and trolls differ from one another psychologically, morally, and physically. This shows that humans are hereditarily programmed to think in story form. Stories are how humans remember the significant events in their lives, how they remember world events the best, and how they understand meaning in the lives of people around them (Jewell, 2002).
According to Fimi (2009), race and fairness are the points on the historical continuum Tolkien takes into standpoint. This gives the myths in The Hobbit a historical context. The Tolkien’s The Hobbit creativity as his legendary developments from mythology of Anglo-Saxon for England to a more realistic pseudo-history of a proto-historic period of Europe, as a reaction to his historical realism. The time, the author, lived, affects his writing. The problem of "race" found in the novel follows the progress of this subject from racial anthropology, to eugenics, to racism, protecting Tolkien from indictments of being a racist, by establishing how Tolkien’s opinions fit within those of his social group (Fimi, 2009).
<...